[GRASS-user] RGB to Grayscale

[Glynn Clements]

Travis Kirstine wrote:

> I am trying to convert a RGB image to a single band grayscale image by
> converting the RGB to HIS then exporting the Hue and Intensity (I
> would like to export a grayscale geotiff with gdal).  Am I correct in
> that a "true" greyscale image is just the hue and intensity,

To convert to greyscale, you would normally just use the intensity.

Also, note that the "intensity" map generated by i.rgb.his is
completely bogus. For a sane intensity calculation, use r.mapcalc,
e.g.:

	r.mapcalc 'intensity = (red + green + blue) / 3'
or:
	r.mapcalc 'intensity = 0.30 * red + 0.59 * green + 0.11 * blue'

The first uses equal weights, the latter the NTSC weights (used for
generating the monochrome (Y) component of a composite video signal).

For a suitable colour table use e.g.:

[for 0 - 255]

	r.colors intensity color=rules
	0 black
	255 white
	end

[for 0.0 - 1.0]:

	r.colors intensity color=rules
	0 black
	1 white
	end

If you use "color=grey", the colour table will map black/white to the
minimum/maximum values which actually occur in the map, which is
incorrect if the map doesn't cover the entire range.

[I'll add these colour tables to CVS; they're likely to be quite
common.]

-- 
Glynn Clements <glynn at gclements.plus.com>